Think about your average day.
How many transactions
take place.
How many times
do you say something like,
"if you do this
then I'll do that"
or
"I'll do this
on the condition
that this happens"?
We're very good
at entering into
contracts and covenants.
And when those
contracts and covenants
are broken
this is where
we bring in the Law
so that order and fairness
can be re-established.
You you think
things are like that
with God?
[PAUSE]
As Christians
we are part of
the New Covenant
on which the sacraments are based.
If we fulfill our side,
God fulfills His.
If a priest offers up
bread and wine
at the Mass
with the intention
of doing what the Church
has always done
for the means of Grace,
then God gives us His Grace
in His Real, True, Physical Presence
which we consume
In order to be more like Him.
We have God's promise
that if we do this in remembrance of Him
He is there.
So it seems that God
does enter into transactions
with us.
But what of our Salvation?
What of the business of Sin?
Does God not keep score
of our wrongdoing?
[PAUSE]
The typical Anglican answer
is "yes and no".
It depends on whether we keep score.
It depends on whether
our love for others
is conditional, legalistic
or transactional.
Jesus tells us that
this is so.
If our approach
is to judge our neighbour
to determine if He is worth loving,
whether he will return our investment,
if we judge our neighbour
and decide that he is too sinful
to love,
If we judge our neighbour
and decide
that his sins are
unforgivable
then that's how we will see
God's love for us.
If we judge others
by our own criteria
then we will expect
to be judged by that criteria
because that criteria
will be all that we know.
If we are unmerciful
then we will expect no mercy
because we cannot know
what mercy is.
If we are unforgiving
then we will not receive forgiveness
because we don't know
what forgiveness is.
If terms and conditions apply
to the way we see our relationship
with God and neighbour
then that's all we can expect.
We trap ourselves
in a cage of terms and conditions
even if we don't think
that those terms and conditions
apply to us.
This is not the relationship
that God wants with us,
His Church.
His love,
His mercy,
His forgiveness
are always give
in superabundance.
In the boxes He gives us
marked Love, Mercy, Forgiveness
there is no bubble wrap,
no foam blocks
no paper packing.
Each box is filled to the brim
with just what it says
on the box.
There is nothing
to quibble about,
there are no terms and conditions.
At the heart,
Christianity is about
this love of God
for us
without any limits on His love
except those limits
we put upon ourselves.
[PAUSE]
We sin, yes,
but forget about the law court;
forget about the idea
of God as judge, jury and gaolor.
See God as being on our side,
hating the sin
that separates us from Him,
and wanting us
to come back to Him,
giving us the Way back
through Our Lord Jesus Christ,
and asking only
for our love, trust and fidelity
which can only come
from our free will.
[PAUSE]
What we struggle with,
in life,
are the terms and conditions
which we insist upon
to protect ourselves
from being hurt.
Following Christ is painful,
but His painful death
upon the Cross shows us
that it is worth it
to embrace the truth
which sets us free.
Terms and conditions
need not apply.
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